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Temples of Angkor
The Bayon Temple, famous for the hundreds of 'faces' Hey!
I've just arrived back in BKK after a week and a bit backpacking through Cambodia, seeing the sights. It was definitely a huge change from Thailand, in both good and bad ways.
Cambodia is by far the poorest country I've seen so far in SE Asia. It's difficult to have 20 young kids with little or no clothes running down the street after you, tugging on your shirt and pants while begging for money or trying to sell you small knick-knacks. The worst part is that you wish you could help each and every one of them, but as soon as you reach into your pocket to fish out a little change, 5 or 10 more suddenly appear out of nowhere and the atmosphere changes from sullen begging to a frenzied grab for whatever cash is being offered. A lot of the times, the young children are put up by the family to beg or sell books, newspapers, etc. in the evenings, and you can see how tough it is on the kids.
At the same time, though, Cambodia was a pleasant surprise in the sense that I think many people assume it will be far worse
than it really is, because of what they hear from others. On the drive from Poipet to Siam Reap (over the worst roads you will ever see in your entire life), the view of the small rural villages is no different from those of Thailand or Vietnam. It seems to be moreso in the cities that the poverty is really apparent.
I stuck to the popular track while in Cambodia, as I wasn't sure what to expect. We bussed from Bangkok to Poipet, the border crossing, and then hired a private taxi to make the horrendous trip from Poipet to Siam Reap. The distance is only 120km or something like that, but it takes 4 hours by taxi and anywhere from 8-12 hours by bus. The roads are so bad, you can't help but laugh. They're a combination of gravel, a reddish mud, and 5 ft wide / 2 ft deep potholes everywhere. You'd think that hiring a taxi would mean that you'd get a pickup truck or something to handle that kind of terrain, but instead you get an early 90's Toyota Camry, jacked up on stiffer suspention. The funny thing is that they get the job done
quite well! Our driver didn't really seem to have any system for avoiding the potholes so much as he just flew over them as fast as possible, probably in some vain attempt to fly right over them instead of bottoming-out on each one, like we did.
Siam Reap is really nothing more than a town that thrives entirely on the traffic brought in by the Angkor Temples. There's only a couple main streets, many of which are littered with guesthouses, bars and restaurants that cater to the backpacker crowd. The other thing that blew me away was the number of huge, elaborate hotels in Siam Reap; they looked bigger and nicer than many I've seen in popular tourist spots in Thailand.
The Temples of Angkor were completely worth the trip. They form what used to be the ancient Khmer Empire, and span for miles around Siam Reap. You can rent a tuk tuk (ie: a little cart pulled by a moped) for the entire day, and the driver will take you on a loop throughout the temples. We did this, and it was the $9-odd dollars to have a knowledgeable driver taking you around the massive temple grounds.
Due to the short time I had allowed myself to see Cambodia, I only did a 1-day trip to see the temples, but that really was more than enough for me. You can get a 3-day pass for the same price as 2 days ($20/day or $40 for days). I'm sure that many people do a 3-day pass and still aren't satisfied, but for me, spending close to 12 hours wandering around the grounds was more than enough time to see what I had come to see.
The main sights are the city of Ankor Thom, the Angkor Wat temple, Bayon (with the faces), and Ta Prohm. There are literally hundreds of other temples scattered around farther outside the main grounds, but unless you have the time and the money to pay a tuk-tuk driver, it's a bit unrealistic to see them all. There's really not much that I can say to do the temples any justice, so I'll post the pictures instead and they can do the talking.
After Siam Reap, we headed off to see Phnom Penh for a couple days. The city itself is much larger and nicer than Siam Reap, despite its reputation as
a bit of a rough spot. I really wouldn't suggest wandering around Phnom Penh at night, but you can grab a tuk tuk to take you anywhere for a dollar or so. The atmosphere changes completely between Siam Reap and Phnom Penh. I think the main reason for this is that the main attractions of Siam Reap are the amazing Temples of Angkor, whereas the sights around Phnom Penh are the infamous ' Killing Fields' and the S-21 Museum.
The S-21 Museum, also known as Tuol Sleng, was a high school in Phnom Penh that was converted to a torture and execution facility for the Pol Pot clique. Cambodians suspected of being traitors by Pol Pot regime where detained, tortured and killed at S-21, and then dumped in the mass graves of the Killing Fields. They were both very, very depressing sights. It wasn't the same as seeing something like the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, which also had very gruesome displays, because in the case of the S-21 Museum, you were actually standing in the same rooms in which these atrocities were committed. When I was wandering around the Killing Fields, I managed to snag my sandal on
a bone that was sticking out of the ground. When you look closer, you can see that there are bones and teeth scattered all over the ground, many still visible in the mass graves. Not fun.
What blew me away the most was when one of the guides at the S-21 Museum told us that they only receive about 50 visitors each day! This is nothing compared to the huge crowds of people wandering around Angkor Wat. Apparently a lot of people only come to Cambodia to see the temples and don't bother with seeing or learning anything about the country's dark, recent history. I'm glad I got the chance to see those things, though, and I seriously hope that more awareness can be raised on the issue.
Raylene has made her way into Southern Vietnam to see a tiny island that she's heard good things about, and I've made my way back into Bangkok for a few days before I head off again. The next leg of my journey heads into Northern Thailand to a tiny little town called "Tha ton", about 6 hours north of Chiang Mai. I'm going to do a Vipassana meditation retreat at
Wat Tha Ton, the local Monastery. Basically, you live at the Monastery with the resident monks to learn and practice a certain style of meditation. The daily routine (as far as i've been informed) consists of waking up at 4 am (yay), eating your one meal a day with the monks (based on what they receive on their alms rounds), and then spending the rest of the day in isolated meditation, with periods of group chants and a period with the meditation instructors. I'm planning to live at the monastery for 10 days, but depending on how much I like it, you're allowed to extend your stay for an indefinite period of time! I do also want to jump into Laos for a bit, and see some other places in Northern Thailand, so I think I'll limit myself to 2 weeks at the monastery, tops. It should be a amazing experience, and I'm pumped to get out of Bangkok and head up there.
Jesus, this turned out to be way longer than I was planning - kudos if you actually read all the way to the end! I'll post up a handful of pictures, and hopefully they turn out
this time!
Heard that the weather at home has been nice for a change! Hopefully everyone's getting a chance to soak up some sun. Drop me an email sometime, you bums.
Cheers!
Mark
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Lisa
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Homo
Dude... what can I say besides you know how jealous I am? I should have definitely stuck around to do Cambodia -- either that or we should have taken a couple of days out of freaking Vietnam to see it together. I hope you are having an awesome time... and savouring every last minute as you'll be back here in the grind before you know it. Oh and p.s. -- no matter how great we imagine home to be when we're so far away, nothing beats the freedom of the backpacker's life.